occult mysteries

There is only one LIGHT

There are many colours, shades and tints, but there is only one LIGHT

In this article we examine the claims of the many mystery schools and contradictory occult teachings the better to recognise the One Light of Truth.

Many of you will know that when white light is passed through a prism it is broken up into seven colours. Moreover, each of these colours is composed of an almost infinite graduation of shades and tints—yet all are derived from one Light. We can liken the colours to the branches of a tree, and the shades and tints of each colour to the leaves, some bright, some dull, and some mottled, such as the heterogeneous melting pot of New Age beliefs.

"The Great Message," replied the Master, "has rung forth many times, and those who have listened have been saved. It is the newcomers, who have but lately evolved from the Shadows, who must ever be taught anew. The true Teachings should never cease; nor would they if all men were always ready to receive them, but all have to learn their lessons in the hard school of the material before they can ascend to the spiritual."

Misconceptions in Mystery Schools

This is true. It is because we do want to help these newcomers that we are now discussing the various colours, shades and tints into which the one Light of Truth has been split in the form of the various mystical and occult teachings that exist in the world today. We all need to go wrong in some way and experience falsehood before we can recognise and appreciate the bright light of Truth. An example of this are the many well-known mystery schools which are nothing more than social clubs whose members behold the vanity of their own dreams until the day of disillusion arrives and they leave to join yet another group which promises something better or more thrilling.

There are other schools which immediately plunge their members into all manner of complicated rituals and occult exercises—without ever explaining the mechanism behind such work—generally because the leaders of such groups do not know themselves. Such exercises are quite useless unless the student has first learned to master their turbulent emotions, divest themselves of their selfish desires, and acquire a measure of self-control. If you know anyone who is a member of such occult groups or schools you will know we speak the truth; if you do not, you may take our word for it that not one in a thousand of the self-styled 'adepts' and 'magicians' who belong to such organisations are in possession of that inner calm and self-mastery which is the first and hardest attainment of the true seeker after Light.

One famous occult order claims Sir Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin among its past members whilst others confidently assert they were founded by Solomon, Moses, or the Lord help us, Brahma Himself! Then there are the innumerable little cliques that offer 'channeled' teachings from extra-terrestrials, 'Ascended Masters', Tibetan 'saints' or New Age 'angels'. If you have any experience at all of such groups you will know that the particular shade of light they mostly reflect does not lead to truth but deeper confusion and doubt.

When H. P. Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society she did not make any such preposterous claims; that wise and honest woman had better ways of transmitting the one Light to her pupils. Sadly, even before her passing in 1891, her followers felt the need to 'dress up' the simplicity of the Ancient Wisdom she taught by grafting upon it the vain imaginings of their wandering minds. Some leading theosophists even went so far as to expend their hours in so-called 'clairvoyant' investigations of the previous incarnations of themselves and their acolytes, making endless lists and charts of their lives as famous figures from history. Those theosophists who did not go along with this mystical self-indulgence found themselves taken off the lists or assigned lives as serfs and other non-entities!

You may smile at such antics, but we assure you from our own personal experience that similar vapid practices are still rife in many of today's occult orders and groups. If only all the effort expended on such useless fantasies was channeled into learning the simple Truths Madame Blavatsky tried to teach, the 'golden age' longed for by so many mystics would already be a reality. Unfortunately most seekers prefer the gaudy colours of psychic phenomena and the shimmering shades of mysterious 'mahatmas' to the bright Light of Truth.

There are no such things as 'up-to-date' Truths

Some mystery schools pride themselves on the 'modernity' of their teachings, forgetting or never knowing that there can never be such things as 'up-to-date' truths, for how can the eternal verities ever change? In the Books of Hermes, written many thousands of years ago we may read that:

"This certainly is true, that we know nothing of Truth. How should it be otherwise, my son? Truth is the supreme virtue, the sovereign Good which is not obscured by matter, nor circumscribed by the body; the naked Good, evident, unalterable, august, immutable. Now, the things which are here below thou seest, my son, are incompatible with the Good; they are perishable, changing, various, passing from form to form. That which is not even identical with itself, how can it be real? All that transforms itself is illusive, not only in itself, but by the appearances which it presents to us one after another."

Such simple truths are not for the intellectual, the dreamer of fantasies or the seeker after occult thrills. Their eyes are blinded by the One Light, and fly instead to the colourful speculations of the pretenders to truth and imposters of wisdom, to dream away their time on earth until once again they precipitated into a new incarnation, having forgotten the little they once knew, to begin the weary round of seeking all over again. Yet we have all been such fools once and even a fool can become wise in the end—there is no hurry in eternity!

We could name many mystery schools which become so enamoured of one tint that they miss the bigger picture entirely. Such are the many occult orders which base all their teachings upon the Qabbalah, Ceremonial Magic, so-called 'Healing' or Astrology. Whilst this approach may lead to an understanding of some aspects of the occult sciences, it is also likely to mislead the seeker into mistaking the various tints and shades for the one Light of Truth. An example of this is the contemporary obsession among many mystics with 'healing' in various forms. It must be clear to all that without a thorough understanding of the material laws which govern the physical body and its complex structure and functions any attempt at 'spiritual' healing is haphazard at best and dangerous at worst.

The modern obsession with 'healing'

The fact of the matter is that much of what passes for 'healing' among many New Age followers and in many mystery schools is nothing more than fantasy at best and deception at worst. Not so long ago we visited a 'Psychic Fair' where we observed many interesting things, among them a 'Reiki Master' in the shape of an attractive lady giving a 'treatment'. The patient had their eyes closed and could not see as we could, that the 'healer' yawned several times whilst they were making their 'mystical' passes in front of the poor dupe. The only 'magical' part of the operation was the breathtaking audacity of the 'healer' and the supreme gullibility of their patient!

With the inner sight we could also see the aura of the 'Master' which abounded in the muddy brown, dull orange and grey-green tints that denote greed, deceit and cunning! So here we have a clear example of one of the darker tints which lead so many seekers away from the one Light of Truth. This is not to say that all healers are fakes. Many do good work, each in their own way. But to do real good the healer has to know a very great deal about the workings of the human body, the mind, the forces they are working with and the laws and principles of magnetic healing. This is only common sense. Moreover, the these laws and principles have never been revealed outside the few truly Great Occult Orders who teach them to their carefully selected students in secret.

Speaking of auras reminds us of one mystic who wrote to us recently complaining that the 'aura cleansing' exercise their teacher had given them was not working. Whilst we are not going to provide any details about this exercise we many say that it included intoning various 'Tibetan mantras' and the burning of certain herbs. This unhappy seeker went on to say that his levels of anger and depression all increased after each ritual! We are not in the least surprised since our aura is nothing more nor less than the invisible atmosphere which reflects our thoughts and emotions. Attempting to 'cleanse' the aura in this way is rather like trying to get clean by washing one's clothes whilst we ourselves remain as filthy as ever! One would think this would be self-evident to anyone, but sad to say all too many seekers are so overawed by the various 'rituals' they undergo (when these are used by unscrupulous persons for their own questionable purposes) that they lose all common sense.

The One Light of Truth

We have barely touched on the innumerable shades and tints that lead us away from the one Light of Truth in this article, and we daresay you could describe many more yourself. But ask yourself honestly if any of them have provided you with real answers to the great questions of life. Answers that you can test and prove for and by yourself that explain who and what man truly is and the purpose of life on earth and elsewhere in God's Universe. This is the great difference between the One Light and the many colours, shades and tints derived from it. If you study the many quotations we have taken from the writings of the great Sages and Masters, such as you can find in our various articles, and on our Religious quotes and occult maxims page, you will see that all say the same thing.

In The Golden Star, the author uses the diamond as a symbol for God, just as we have done in this article to illustrate our theme of the One Light of Truth. Some of you will know that the atoms of a diamond are always arranged in groups of five, and as five is the numerical Symbol for Pure Love, the diamond is a perfect symbol for this most perfect attribute of the Supreme Creator which reflects the Light of God to His creation. Each one of us is free to respond to the colours, tints and shades which most appeal to us. But whichever colour we respond to, or if we respond to none at all, the Great Light is ready and waiting to blaze forth at the first opportunity in all the glorious hues of a sparkling and scintillating diamond.

In the same book we may read:

O! God of Mercy, pour out Thy Sparkling Vials of Beauty upon the Mind of Man; so that he may bathe in Thy Effulgence, and his sight may be washed clean of all earthly matter. For with the realisation of the beauty of all Thy Creations will come Love for Thee and Thy Creatures, so that evil shall be no more; nor Darkness or Shadow; but instead, Thy Eternal Light shall shine upon all. For once the scales have fallen from the eyes that behold Thy Glory there can be no more returning to Darkness and Ignorance; and those that are so Blessed will ever after look up to Thee and merge with Thy Holy Spirit.

Not long ago a reader wrote in to say: "there is so much information out there that it's hard to sort the true from the false." Another visitor wrote that: "I've searched for truth in churches, occult groups, books and people—only to find time and time again that none of their answers lend me peace." Our archives are filled with similar comments from grateful seekers, who, after many years of floundering in an ocean of half-truths and wrong beliefs have learned to recognise the one Light of Truth through reading our articles and books.

We take no credit for this, nor is this a cheap form of advertisement. We do not claim to have all the answers. What we do say is that never before has the one Light of Truth been presented with such clarity and simplicity for all to partake of according to their capacity and willingness to accept and comprehend it. Take then, whatever you can from our website, and be quite sure that what you read here are not our personal opinions or fancies, but the one Light of Truth, and nothing but the Truth, which you can find confirmed in the words of all the great Messengers from God to man.

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The Path to Wisdom

The following extract has been taken from The Teachings of Li Wang Ho which can be read in full on this website. Here the Chinese Sage succinctly describes the path to Wisdom and how to attain it.

"To have complete Wisdom is to present an unruffled countenance under all extremities of joy and disaster, but the acquisition of true Wisdom is necessarily of slow growth. We cannot force the seed to develop quicker by continually digging it up in order to watch its progress. Therefore we must wait patiently for Wisdom to grow within our minds by opening our hearts to the warm rays that are ever shining in the effulgence of our Souls; listening carefully all the time for the occasional whisper of love and enlightenment that may travel along one of these rays and illumine us with some Holy Precept.

"It is, alas, too true that to those who will not hear, a loving word is as useless as the singing of a multitude of Angels before the Evil One; but it is also true that Fate will force them one day to listen . . . . but then the teachings will be very severe and the path long and steep and full of ruts and pitfalls. Therefore: practise virtue every moment of the day, for its voice is louder than the voice of a roaring tiger, and it will be heard by the Spirits of divine Light and Love.

"The Lords of Destiny place our feet on neutral ground from which three roads radiate. One leads to wilful sin; one to dull ignorance; and one to intelligent knowledge, leading to Sage-hood in the end—if we will. Which way shall we go? Only we can decide—but after the decision Fate takes a hand and rewards us at the end of the road according to the direction we have taken. And the choice should not be too difficult for us; for the wise do not stoop to dig in the earth, breaking their fingernails searching for an occasional worm wherewith to assuage their pangs of hunger, when the branches of Heaven's Benevolence are laden with luscious fruit, to which we have only to stretch out a hand in order to pluck it and satisfy ourselves. Nor is he who stands idle between worm and fruit, gaining neither the material nor the spiritual, the one who shall gain entrance to the Land of Ever-growing Delight.

"Truly, we can see by the Sun in which direction lies the road to our goal, but it is only by means of our weary feet that we can reach it. Dreaming about this will not forward us one furlong; for in dreams we may amass the greatest riches and soar to power, but in the waking state it is sometimes very difficult to find sufficient cash for a night's lodging in a mud-hovel!

"We must act; live according to the rules of the wise, or according to the words of the pilot within the cabin of our hearts.

"But it is not sufficient to act when we are led in this manner, or driven; for even the seed of the lowly thistle may be blown up to heaven by a gust of wind—but it must inevitably fall down to earth again, however slowly; for there is no merit in being carried.

"We must strive mentally and spiritually of our own accord, and rise by our own volition. That is the only way in which to storm the Gate and gain Entrance among the Heavenly Ones!

"Dwell in the purity of Peace, so that your Inner Self shall be ONE with God. For as outer cleanliness is the symbol of a pure mind, so shall Inner Purity be the emblem of the highest Man can conceive, thus enabling him to perceive his Immaculate Creator.

"And, finally, remember that when it seems to you that the way to Heaven is too steep and too far, that even an ant may climb to the top of a mighty oak; although a mouse will have to perform many great deeds before he will be regarded with the same respect as the tiger!"

A book for Initiatesby J Michaud PhD

Aptly described as "A BOOK FOR INITIATES", The Golden Star expounds the most ADVANCED OCCULT TEACHINGS, never before revealed to the public, yet in such a fascinating manner as to hold and extend the interest of the novice.

The book is written in the form of a story, in which two Egyptian pilgrims, Ma-u and Ma-uti, are conducted through the higher and lower planes by Neteru-Hem, a Messenger from the Divine. During their journey they are gradually introduced to the true laws and principles of the Universe.

During their remarkable journey, the two pilgrims are taught about the origin of the universe, witchcraft, magic (both black and white), spiritualism, the inhabitants of the four elemental kingdoms, psychism, clairvoyance and clairaudience, true, spiritual vision, divine inspiration, the occult constitution of man and how to attain cosmic consciousness and oneness with the Divine.